Smith declined to say how they knew he was there but said investigators had good leads.

Tervel was cleaning animal cages about 11:15 a.m. this morning at the city's Department of Animal Care and Control in the 2800 block of South Western Avenue when he walked away from the work site, said Smith.

"This is very unfortunate," said Smith.

Tervel, working as part of an off-site project, was not wearing handcuffs but he was being supervised by an "external operations team," Smith said.

Details on how he was able to walk away were not immediately known, but Smith said, "We'll figure out what happened."

Tervel was arrested and charged with possession of burglary tools on Sept. 19 and was accused of taking bronze statues from Rosehill Cemetery, said Smith.

A judge set bail at $30,000 for him Sept. 19, Smith said.

Tervel and another man, David Ryan, were charged with felony theft in connection with the Rosehill thefts, according to Cook County state's attorney’s office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton. Tervel was also charged with possession of burglar tools and possession of heroin.

Ryan, 29, of the 400 block of Burr Oak Drive in Oswego, and Tervel were both arrested at 2:05 p.m. Sept. 18 at the cemetery, 5800 N. Ravenswood Ave., Chicago police said.

The two are suspected of "substantially similar"’ thefts from cemeteries in their county, said Kendall County sheriff's deputy Bryan Harl at the time of their arrest. The sheriff's office also told Chicago police they both had active warrants and have been known to fight with police; they also had allegedly tried to run over a Kendall County officer in the past, according to the report.

Two suburban men are accused of stealing bronze vases from Rosehill Cemetery plots Wednesday after Kendall County authorities alerted Chicago police the pair might be there and are suspected of similar thefts in Kendall County, authorities said.